Israel’s Iron Dome, developed by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, is a short-range, ground-to-air, air defence system that consists of a radar and Tamir interceptor missiles. It is a multi-mission system capable of intercepting rockets, artillery, mortars, and Precision Guided Munitions like very short-range air defence (V-SHORAD) systems as well as aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over short ranges from 5 to 70 km. The missiles track and neutralise any rockets or missiles aimed at Israeli targets in all weather conditions including fog, dust storm, low clouds, rain, day, and night. I-Dome is a mobile version of the system deployable on a single truck, while C-Dome is its naval version.
It came into existence in the wake of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon war, when the Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets on the northern parts of Israel resulting in the death of about 44 Israeli civilians and evacuation of around 2,50,000 citizens. Next year, Israel announced that its state-run Rafael Advance Systems would come up with a new air defence system to protect its cities and people.
The system was deployed in 2011. Though Rafael claims a success rate of over 90 per cent, with more than 2,000 interceptions, experts are of the view that the success rate is over 80 per cent. As per Rafael, it can “protect deployed and manoeuvring forces, as well as the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and urban areas, against a wide range of indirect and aerial threats”.
How Iron Dome Works
An Iron Dome battery comprises a battle management control unit, a detection and tracking radar, and a firing unit of three vertical launchers, with 20 interceptor missiles each. The interceptor missile uses a proximity fuse to detonate the target warhead in the air. The battle management and weapon control system (BMC) basically liaises between the radar and the interceptor missile. After detecting the threat, the system starts firing its interceptor to block and detonate the rocket, especially when the incoming rocket has the potential risk of hitting populated areas or vital infrastructure of Israel.
One of the system’s important advantages is its ability to identify the anticipated point of impact of the threatening rocket to calculate whether it will fall in a built-up area or not, and to decide on this basis whether or not to engage it. This prevents unnecessary interception of rockets that will fall in open areas and thus not cause damage.
Limitations of the Iron Dome
On the other hand, the system has some limitations as well. Though it has performed very well so far, it can see limitations if overwhelmed with a barrage of projectiles. It has a ‘saturation point’. It is capable of engaging a certain (unpublished) number of targets at the same time, and no more. Therefore, additional rockets fired in a crowded salvo could succeed in breaching defences and cause damage. Another drawback is the system’s inability to cope with very short-range threats as estimates put the Iron Dome’s minimum interception range at 5-7 km. Similarly, the high cost of interception—about US$ 40,000–50,000—is also a limiting factor.
India’s Air Defence System
India has got S-400, which caters to the three threats—rockets, missiles, and cruise missiles—and has much longer range. S-400 has to cater to shooting down missiles, and aircraft in some 300 to 400 km range and has a much larger air defence bubble to knock off threats. India and Israel have significant cooperation in missiles, including the Baraak-8. Presently, India has Akash short-range surface-to-air missiles, and Russian systems including Pechora. Besides, India is buying two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System-II from the US to protect the national capital, New Delhi.
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